Indian River Offers Tips For Enhancing Parking Lot Pedestrian Safety

As our population continues to grow, pedestrians will be continually exposed to dangers of vehicles in parking lots.

Studies show that about one in four pedestrian-related accidents occurs in parking lots.  Many of these incidents occur in grocery stores, apartment complexes, and other parking lots.

Pedestrian Parking Lot Safety Tips

Pedestrians play a crucial role to ensure their safety when walking in a parking lot, and by following a few basic safety tips, they can provide their safe passage no matter the time of day or parking lot location.

• Staying alert is perhaps the most important part of walking in a parking lot safely. Whether a pedestrian is crossing in front of a grocery store or retail shop, they should maintain attentive visual and auditory attention to their environment and put their mobile devices away.

• Understanding where blind spots are around the parking lot are also important and can keep pedestrians safe as they pass through a parking lot.

  • If there is a vehicle illegally parked on the frontage roads, walkers should take extra caution to ensure oncoming traffic can see them as they look to cross the street. The same is true in parking aisles, as pedestrians are often injured when vehicles backing up strike them.

  • Walking in main parking aisles is often the safest place for pedestrians because walking between cars can cause unintended injuries.

  • Pedestrians should also treat parking lots like streets by following standard safety procedures like stop before crossing parking aisles and looking both ways before moving forward.

When You are a Pedestrian:

• Always stay alert for vehicles.

• Don’t assume drivers see you.

• Watch for vehicles pulling out of parking spaces.

• Don’t walk behind a vehicle that is backing out.

• Be cautious and look around before walking out between parked vehicles.

• Treat the parking lot as you would a road – be aware and constantly look around for vehicles.

Driver Parking Lot Safety Tips

Ongoing safety in parking lots requires attention from both pedestrians and drivers. Vehicle drivers should pay careful attention to their surroundings in a parking lot because if they strike a pedestrian not only can they injure the walker, the driver could also face legal issues.

The first way drivers can reduce the risk of injury to pedestrians in parking lots is to stay off of frontage roads in front of stores, and try to keep to less traveled routes. Along with reducing traffic in front of stores, drivers can also park as far away from the building as possible. These tips will minimize contact with pedestrians.

Drivers should reduce their speed especially during periods of rain, snow, or when ice is on the roads. Impaired visibility should also cause drivers to reduce their speed because slower speeds will provide pedestrians with more time to react to unexpected situations in parking lots.

When backing out of parking spots, drivers should take extra time to observe their surroundings. Since vehicles backing out of parking spots injure most pedestrians, drivers should always look for pedestrians as they enter a parking aisle.

When You Are a Driver

• Parking lots are not speedways – slow down!

• Always stay alert for pedestrians.

• Don’t assume pedestrians see you.

• Be especially cautious backing out of a space.

• Never cut across parking space lanes.

Parking lot pedestrian safety becomes even more critical as our population continues to grow. Reducing the number of pedestrian-related injuries in parking lots will mean that citizens will be able to reach their destination safely.

Remember: Safety is your responsibility!